I have a general idea where I'm gonna go with this, but - leave you cats out of the loop? That'd be mean.

I'm looking to get a tiny tube combo amp to rule a tiny kingdom - for recording in the 5 x 3.5 x 7' environs of the Cube - sometimes with an acoustic guitarist and singer inside, with the amp being played by someone outside the Cube. So - small is beautiful.

Depends on what you want. In that small space, even a 5W amp cranked is going to be LOUD! I often play (nearly always, actually) in situations where I have to keep the volume low, so I use the volume knob on mine. A master volume amp like my Electar Tube 10 (yeah, it's rated at 10W and can actually put out more) can still make a pretty good fuzzy sound with the gain up and the master volume down, but some folks aren't satisfied with that. The tiny Z-vex mini-amp has been recommended, but it uses a subminiature tube that's hard to find now and will get harder. I've still got a funny feeling about him from 6-7 years ago when he jumped all over me like I'd attacked him for E-mailing him to report that the link on his page for dealers in my state was 404. (I meant it to be a helpful report, not a complaint.) I'd wonder about support if it had problems. Lots of folks could build you a lovely low wattage mini-amp. I'd suggest talking to our own BrianP. And of course there are many options (homebuilt and commercial, from ~$10 to hundreds) for using attenuators on amps of greater power.

Dan...while I have a Clark handwired tweed champ clone...it still is a very loud amp when dialed into the sweet spot of around 9 or 10. I bought a Fender Champion 600 off of Lefty a couple moons ago and have been playing that about 90% of the time. The only problem with the amp I have found is excessive speaker buzz above 5. I remedied this by putting a Bixonic Expandora dirt box in front of it and can dial up very nice tube sound on 4. Doesn't matter if I play the V w/buckers or the LP w/P90's, it does the job for me in the Blues Kitchen late at night or when I don't want to disturb anyone. I am looking at a Weber speaker for replacement if it will fit but thus far I am quite happy with it.Cheers, TB.

I use a Smokey with an external speaker - an old 5W, 6 1/2 inch. It's in a cab made out of scrap ply and polystyrene foam, covered in brown paper and painted matt black (hides a lot of poor workmanship). All stuff that was just laying around the workshop. The cab is angled at the front (points up at about 45 degrees) and just big enough to fit the Smokey and the speaker in. It gives the Smokey a lot more firepower, and makes it a much more useful busking amp, that is cheap and rugged. Carry a spare 9V battery and you can go all day.

Hi Dan: Have you thought about the THD Hotplate? I use one in my cube (12'x12') with a deluxe reverb amp. I rarely have the guitar volume louder than a very low speaking voice, yet, if I want, I can get it to sound like pure grit and anything inbetween. I usually have the deluxe reverb volume set between 2-5, depending on which guitar I use. If you already have an amp, or are thinking of one that can double for performance, I would look into it. I use the hotplate for gigs as well. My friend is building a princeton reverb clone, with the tremelo. That will be my ultimate amp for both studio and gigs. Walter

Last edited by watertore on Sat Jun 28, 2008 11:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

Package arrived - a Bugera V5, a 5 watt Tube Amp with an attenuator that will take it down to 1 and .1 watt. So far sounds good - used it to play "Sleepwalk" during last nights Broadcast. Seems a bit nicer put together than I expected for the price, too. .1 watt is PLENTY for this little booth.